Process of making an unwoven fabric



Patented Aeg. 14, 1923.

NITE

STATE;

.- Wies..

ROLAND n. .Rnsrnss or NEW YORK, N. Y., nssIeNoa, BY NESNN asfsre-NNNNTS, 1ro Rnsrno INC., or ORANSTON, RHODE ISLAND, a CORPORATION on RHODE ISLAND.

rnocEss or MAKING AN uNwovEfN manic.

Application med February 2 1, 1921. seriai No. 446,977.

lowing is a specification.

This invention relates to an4 unwoven fab-- ric and the process for making the same. The object of this invention is the production of an unwoven fabric with .the fibers thereof having ,a cellulose adheringto each other,'made of the surface of the fibers, that binds said fibers together. l

- In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1

I shows a side elevation of apparatus to carry out the steps of the invention and Fig. 2

indicates a cross'section of one form. of the product produced.

Referring to Fig. l, a roller is 'indicated at 20. A p air of pressure rollers a're indicated at 21 and' 22. A nozzleV 24 is located,

adjacent' to, the roller 22. A third roller is 'shown at 25.' A conveyer belt 26 connects the rollers 21 and 25. Guide rollers are indicated at 28 and 29 and a heater is shown ,at 30.. Pressure rollers are shownA at 31 and 32. A rolll 435 supports acore 36. A pulley 37 is fastened to the roll 35. A belt 38 has oneend 39 fastened in place and bearson the pulley 37. The other en d of the belthas attached-thereto a weight 4o.

The processconsists first in. making. a sheet 42 of cotton or other suitable vegetableber, batting or felt, inthe usual manner, .on a cardingfor garnetting machine.

' The sheet 42is located around the roller 2O 'and unwound therefrom on the conveying -belt 26`and.brouglit between' the pressure j rollers 21 and 22. Justprior to the 'sheet coming in contact with the roller 22 a liquid element which has the property to fully dissolve the vegetable fibers, if theywere placed therein and allowed tol remain,

I I -f is deposited on the surface of the sheet from the nozzle 24. A's the sheet 42'passesunder the pressure roller 22 this dissolving element s pressed into the sheet and throughout the fibers thereof. In this process the pressure of the rollers 21 and 22, the thickness of the sheet and the viscosity of the dissolving liquid are so-regulated that when the sheet passes under pressure between the only such liquid as is Vrequired remains in the matted fibers of they sheet, after it passes from the rolls After thesheet 42 is saturated it passes to thedryer 30, where the solvent of the dissolving agent is evaporated 'or partly` evaporated. Thel drying process is yso regulated that the dissolving element, which would completely dissolve and destroy the -fiber form, if glven-suiicient time and in sufiicient quantity, only attacks the surface tatu ' rolls, the liquid is pressed into the'sheet and of each-fiber and thereby forms a surface i adhesive jelly or cellulose. The fibers are attacked only on their surface and made ad- -hesive, by reason of the cellulose element formed by the dissolving agent. The sheet 45 after'being dried passes' between the pressure rollers 31 and 32 and is Wound on the core 36 underjtension by virtue of the effect of the belt 38. The bers will be found to adhere each to the other and the sheet produced .is an unwoven -fabric of great strength and flexibility. This sheet may be Washed inthe usual manner that woven fabric is Washed'in order to keep same clean. This sheet'may also be finished in any of the usual methods that woven fabric is finished by bleaching, dyeing or printing or as unwoven sheet fabrics, such as wood fiber sheet of paper is treated with a surface dressing of clay Sor is calendered; or the sheet may be finished with suitable dressing in imitation of leather and may be used as a leather substitute as indicated' in Fig. 2

The'sheet may be subjected to treatment withoil, or othersuitable elements to make it. soft and 'liexib le, Tand when used as a leather substitute oner' side` may be coated with a surface leather dressing and the other may be bu'ed to resemble buffed soft leather.

This unwoven fiber sheet made in the manner described, may be used for many vdifferent purposes in the same Amanner that woven sheet fabric is used or-with special treatment, as artificial leather or genuine leather is employed in the arts, and in my claims'for said invention I do not limit myyself in any manner whatsoever as to the use for which the fabric may be employed.

The liquid dissolvin agent ll consider to be an adhesive agent, -rom its action .on the fibersv to form .an adhesive element. The said agent'is introdued into the fiber sheet for the purpose of forming an adhesive between the bers. I t ma be composed of one of a number of disso ving agents. p For instance, one method which might be employed, but by reason of its uncertainty of action is not preferred, is'by treatment with diluted nitric acid and after the acid has partly attacked the bers it is necessary to remove the acid and subject the ber sheet to a treatment with ether and alcohol or' other dissolving elements which will partly dissolvethe surface of the ber `which has" 'been rst attacked bythe acid.

Another method is by treating the ber with causticsoda and a bisulphide.

A third method isby treating thebers with a solution chemically known as ammonia cuprite or copper ammonia solution. This solution is prepared by dissolving blue vitriol or blue stone crystals in water to make a copper solution, practically twelve ounces to a gallon of cold water, then dissolving about four ounces of'soda lye or potash lye in one half it Settles the clear liquid at the top is drawn' off. This Aliquid will dissolve vegetable ber completely, if the ber is left in the full strength solution for a short time.

The ammonia cnprite solution, in some cases, may be used at its full strength. but I prefer in order to secure the best adhesive qualities, to take this solution and reduce its strengthi by dissolving therein some of the ber, such as cotton, when the sheet is .made entirelyA of cotton or paper ber when the sheet is made 'of a paper pulp, as in some cases may be desired incase of a carded cotton ber sheet. By dissolving some of the ber in'the solution '1t will load the solutionwith pure cellulose materialand in its dissolving action Will reduce the strength of the mixture and when such. mixture is introduced into the ber sheet it not only attacks the surface of the ber with the re maining strength of the solution but introduces also additional adhesive cellulose obtained from the berspreviously completely dissolved in the solution.

What l desire to secure by Letters Patent and claim is:

l. The herein described process ofmaksheet with a dissolving agent to attack the surface of the bers throughout the sheet and thereby form an .adhesive coating for -the individual -fibers of the sheet, partlyl drying the sheet and subjecting it to pressure under tension and treating with. oily compounds, as leather is treated'to produce softness and flexibilityin leather and coating the sheet with a suitable leather dressigned at the borough of Manhattan, city of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 1st day of February, D. 1921.

ROLAND B. RESPESS. 

